Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Hello and welcome! Today I want to share a fun gift idea I have done this year.

Every year, a ladies ministry holds a women's Christmas dinner and gift exchange at the church. It is SO much fun! There's always good food and the local middle school's show choir performed for us. It was delightful.

For the exchange, each woman brings 8 similar gifts, then you leave with 8 different gifts. These are what I took for my gifts!

These mini-quilts were so fun to make! Each measured approximately 8.5" - the perfect size to use as mug rugs, trivets, candle mat, etc.

I used a leftover charm pack and made a stack of half-square triangles, then just made simple 4-patches by mixing up the colors and direction of the triangles...each one was unique!

Here's a close-up of each:

My favorite part was the quilting. I usually do allover FMQ patterns when I quilt, so getting in there and trying some more detailed, design-specific stitching was soooo fun.

Since one of my favorite things is to look at the backs to the quilting...here are my favorite backs!

I used a single 10" square for the back of each. Thankfully, I have this big stack of 10" "blenders" from Connecting Threads. It's one of my favorite go-tos when I need just a few more squares to fill out a pattern. These worked perfectly!

Do you have a quick "go-to" gift idea? I'd love to hear about it! Have an awesome day!

Friday, December 9, 2016

I'm so excited to have this quilt finished! It's been a tricky one throughout. I had an idea of what I wanted it to look like, but matching that idea to the size of my daughter's bed and my budget (I know you hear me ;) )...well, it involved several sheets of graph paper, some groaning, stitch ripping when I completed a whole section in the wrong direction, and lots of love. :)

My Evie is an amazing kid. She's crazy smart and loves math, science, and art. She's a builder, a creator...always making and drawing. I wanted to make a quilt that was as special as she is. I wanted something with lots of movement, lots of bright color, and something where order could be found in the chaos. This is what I designed for her.

I used Acreage by Shannon Gillman Orr for Moda, then I added in some solid white and a few coordinating prints from my stash to make it big enough.

This fabric line is sooo sweet and reflects my girl's personality so well. There's the sweet and dainty flowers, the abstract fans, the action of the bicycles...and those beautiful bright colors!

Usually quilting a quilt of this size is like wrestling an alligator, but this one really was lovely to quilt. I focused on the diamonds, starting with hearts in the center, then alternating between feathers, flowers, and loops in the larger diamonds that grow from each center.

I love using white as backing because the quilting can be seen so well. I put the bright pink strip down the center as a little special surprise.

By the way, I super appreciate my sweet husband's support in my quilting...this morning, he was literally supporting the quilt while standing on a 4-foot stump, in freezing temperatures, so the quilt wouldn't drag on the wet grass. He's such a great guy. <3

Well, one Christmas quilt down and one to go! I'll start piecing the backing to Amelia's quilt this afternoon.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Are you doing any special quilting for Christmas? I'd love hear about your projects!